In the midst of our meal a lady at the far end of the compartment heaved a sigh and ejaculated “Poor thing!”—­which at once set us off discussing the case anew.  We agreed that such conduct as Pretyman’s was fortunately rare amongst us.  We tried to disclaim him—­no easy matter, since his father and mother had been natives of Troy, and he had spent all his life in our midst.  The lady in the corner challenged Mr. Hansombody to deny that our town was deteriorating—­the rising generation more mischievous than its parents, and given to mitching from school, and cigarette smoking, if not to worse.

Now this was a really damaging attack, for Mr. Hansombody not only presides over our School Board, but has a son in the tobacco business.  He met it magnificently.  “He would dismiss (he said) the cigarette question as one upon which—­Heaven knew with how little justice!—­he might be suspected of private bias; but on the question of truancy he had something to say, and he would say it.  To begin with, he would admit that the children in Troy played truant; the percentage of school attendance was abnormally low.  Yes, he admitted the fact, and thanked the lady for having called attention to it, since it bore upon the subject now uppermost in our minds.  He had here”—­and he drew from his pocket a magazine article—­“some statistics to which he would invite our attention.  They showed the average school attendance in Cornwall to be lower than in any county of England or Wales. But”—­and Mr. Hansombody raised his forefinger—­“the same statistician in the very same paper proves the average of criminal prosecutions in Cornwall to be the lowest in England and Wales.”

“And you infer—­” I began as he paused triumphantly.

“I infer nothing, sir.  I leave the inference to be drawn by our faddists in education, and I only hope they’ll enjoy it.”

Well, apart from its bearing on Mr. Hansombody’s position as Chairman of our Board (which we forbore to examine), this discovery consoled us somewhat and amused us a great deal until we reached Bodmin, when we hurried at once to the Assize Court.

I have said that the action, Cox v. Pretyman, was for damages for Breach of Promise of Marriage.  Both parties are natives and parishioners of Fowey, and attend the same place of worship.  The plaintiff, Miss Rebecca Cox, earns her living as a dressmaker’s assistant; the defendant is our watch-maker, and opened a shop of his own but a few months before approaching Miss Cox with proposals of marriage.  This was fifteen years ago.  I may mention that some kind of counter-claim was put in “for goods delivered”; the goods in question being a musical-box and sundry small articles for parlour amusement, such as a solitaire-tray, two packs of “Patience” cards, a race-game, and the like.  But the defendant did not allege that these had been sent or accepted as whole or partial quittance of his contract to marry, and I can only suppose that he pleaded them in mitigation of damages.  Miss Cox asked for one hundred and fifty pounds.